Game nights started in high school. I've hosted game nights off and on since college. For many years a group of us settled on Catan. I started writing recap emails years ago. You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever, I suppose.
Despite my vow to stop buying games that I put on a shelf, never to be played, I did buy one game on a topic long of interest to me.
But other than that game, I've held my ground on new games. In theory it can be played in 90 minutes. I played it solitaire--but not using solitaire rules--in two hours.
It's a two-player game, of course. This is the starting map.
The military units are frigates, gunboats/pirates, and armies. There are American, Tripolitan, North African, Arab mercenary, and Swedish units. The game is driven by cards that allow moves or builds, special moves or events, or combat capabilities. You draw 6 at the start along with three base cards. Each year you draw 6 more. You can keep 8 drawn cards in your hand. In the second-to-last year (I think) you reshuffle the discard pile. In the last year you get to choose your cards from the pile.
Tripoli wins by getting all the gold from piracy or sinking 4 American frigates.
America wins by taking Tripoli or forcing a peace on an isolated (from allies) Tripoli.
The limited moves per season make it difficult to prioritize and do everything you want to do.
I failed to pirate raid as much as I should have for Tripoli. I used a good defense of Tripoli card way too early. It can be used just once per game. And I should have beefed up Tripoli's defenses more.
And I probably should have built American gunboats sooner.
But at least I took the steps as the Americans to get the Marines going on the "shores of Tripoli" thing and took cards in the last year to assault Tripoli.
So in the end, the Americans won.
Tripoli managed to sink two frigates. In the end I hit Tripoli with Marines and Arab mercenaries along with my entire fleet. I lost a frigate and both gunboats in addition to several mercenaries. But I defeated the Tripoli fleet, bombarded the port, and then won the land battle.
I might have been a little lucky in the battles although I think I had the edge in the naval and land combat.
It's a neat little game that is quite simple to play. The Tripoli victory conditions are pretty straightforward but the American victory conditions are kind of complicated. And some of the cards are potentially devastating. Luck can swing this game, it seems to me.
I had a solitaire game night on Monday. Which I expect after monthly game night excesses.
I hauled out an old game called MBT. The drink is something to use up my dry vermouth which is equal part gin and vermouth with a bit of lemon juice and raspberry syrup. It is perfectly adequate.
Sorry. I don't know how to rotate the image in Blogger. A quick search indicates it isn't really possible without added photo-editing additions. And that information was old. I could do it in photo editor separately but it isn't worth it to me. [Doh! I remembered I rotate it in my camera before sending it for blogging.]
I picked the basic scenario of 3 Abrams versus 4 T-72s. I ground through several turns until it was clear that the Soviets were doomed.
I sent 3 Soviet tanks to the south to try to bull through a smaller number of Americans while a single tank kept a single American tank busy.
The game is basically a miniatures game with tremendous detail possible. Check for spotting. Issue orders. Fire and move. Check hit number and roll for shot. Check penetration versus armor protection and roll for damage. Lots of charts must be consulted for all these things.
My Soviet move led to the stationary American tanks on the hill shots at two of the Soviet tanks. Hit chances were 60% or more and both shots hit.
One target blew up.
The problem is that the scenario doesn't have an objective other than learning the game. So I parked my American tanks into positions and waited. And as the Soviet player I simply accepted the attacker role despite parity.
Without hidden movement, you know where the enemy is. This is pre-drone era, remember (well,technically there were some, and Israel pioneered combat usage before this game era). I could have maneuvered around with the God-like view but pretended the Soviets had to move fast.
Also, I discovered two apparent typos in the few rules I used. Gaming experience let me see the obvious errors.
The basic rules aren't that bad despite the multiple steps. You'd get used to them with practice. But I have miniatures. And I want easier and more playable rules for those. In younger days I would have loved this game. Pity I didn't play it when I was younger.
Now? When I finally reach the point of selling my games before I have to leave them to my children who will sell them for pennies on the dollar at an estate sale, this will be an early sale.
Unless I strip the game for its vehicle cards and use them with simplified rules for my modern miniatures. Hmm. That has some potential.
Stay of future game disposal is on hold.
Anyway, it was fun to play. But I truncated game night before 8:00 and called it a night. Monthly game night tires me out, too!
We had game night on Saturday. Dave, Joe, Paul, and Pete joined me for games on the expansion map.
We dined on two kinds of pizza, a couple kinds of chips plus dip, chocolate chip cookies, Nutty Buddies, Peanut M & Ms provided by Joe. And cider mill donuts provided by Paul.
We had the usual house swill of Labatt Blue Light plus Labatt Blue left over from last game night. And assorted non-alcoholic beverages, of course.
We managed three games using the harbor master variant. And we always use the new Interstellar rules of a bank trade and build phase for the third person after the poop holder's turn.
I was green, Paul was brown, Pete was red, Joe was orange, and Dave was blue.
The word of the night was "muddler." Muddler.
GAME ONE
I think Paul went first. Which means Pete was second, Joe was third, Dave was fourth, and I had the coveted DP spot.
This is the game start:
Wood and sheep were problems. I used my double placement to at least have all resources, although wood was unlikely to be productive.
I had hoped to at least build on another 3 wood space and get a port, but Paul reached the coast first. And at my other placement, I was unfortunately stuck as the dead meat in an orange sandwich. I made it to the coast there, but I was desperate for building sites. With little wood I'd have trouble staking out even a couple of the five theoretical spots open to me in reach of other players, too.
Pete, at least, didn't immediately block in my right-side enclave as he moved inland and threatened to link his enclaves.
Joe reached the sea in two places, one holding off Paul's threat to the coast and the other threatening my ability to have some real estate.
Dave was rather trapped on the right side but at least had a couple ports. In the upper left he too pushed inland with the apparent hope of getting the crappy wheat left for settlement.
Paul rode the ample 5 rolls and healthy rocks and wheat to blitzkrieg his way to harbor master and longest road, reaching 11 points in 48 minutes! Nobody had a chance to even try to break his longest road. Which was a lesson he should have learned ...
This is the end game map:
Anyway, after Paul we had Pete, Joe, and myself with 5 points each. And Dave had 4. Congratulations Paul!
I never picked up much with my 3 wood resource and didn't have a chance to use my sheep port.
Nobody bought any development cards.
GAME TWO
Pete went first. Followed by Joe, Dave, me, and Paul in the coveted DP position.
This is the game start:
None of the resources were awful this game, with the partial exception of wheat. But nobody considered it a high enough priority to place on the one good wheat resource.
Paul placed his second settlement at the 5, 10, 11 spot second with the intent of building a road past my 4, 6, 11 settlement using his initial wood and brick. He moved before me. So it was going to be that sort of game.
But I placed on wood for my second placement, hoping for an initial 6 roll to get brick. Because after Pete moved, I'd get my Interstellar phase. No six was rolled. But in a three way trade, Dave traded a brick to Pete, who traded his extra brick to me. And so on my Interstellar phase I built first past Paul.
That was judged the largest dick move of the night ... at that point. Although I had a big assist from Pete and Dave. But that hurt Paul.
Paul, blocked in his upper settlement, went the other way. But then went on an epic march to the sea at the bottom of the map, reversing course after he was blocked by Pete and Dave. Which somehow wasn't a dick move. Paul built all five of his settlements and had the longest road, but he needed cities.
Of special note during Paul's long march was Paul's Anaconda Plan to surround and strangle Pete. With all his settlements on the map and no ability to build cities, Paul went all-in to defend his longest road:
It was, Dave noted, "the bloody trail in the brown hole." Whatever that means. Pete was seemingly hemmed in.
None of us noticed Paul's vulnerability. But we had been drinking and some had broken into the bourbon.
But then Pete responded.
And when we said he was going to do something to really churn the board, my eyes immediately went to Paul's coastal road and I saw what he was about to do:
And so Pete wished Paul a very happy International Women's Day.
Sadly it was more than an "ow, my nipples" moment.
Much more. Pete broke Paul's longest road and threw the title to Joe.
But I digress.
Pete's left enclave had room to expand and he split my parts in two.
Joe was expanding well and contested Paul for the longest road title, ultimately holding it with Pete's help. Although Joe's effort to reach the sea with his lower prong was thwarted by Dave who built past Joe. Which in my mind reduced my dick move to second worst in the game at that point.
Pete's road-breaking build put me to third, in my opinion. And really, when you remember that Paul's initial placement was based on a foundation of a dick move to cut me off, I think I fall to fourth place that game easily.
But again, I digress.
Dave pushed for harbor master with much gusto. Seemingly glancing at my side of the map as I chased him for three harbor points. He made it to 3 and then I got three. Then he got four. Blast! And he had a new port beckoning at the bottom. Until Paul built his roads to claim that territory.
But that's when I did what is rare. I took the harbormaster with five harbor points, and won the game with 12 points.
Dave and Joe (with the longest road) had 8 points each. Pete had 7. And Paul had 5.
This is the end game map:
And I think just one development card was drawn this game.
GAME THREE
I went first. Followed by Paul, Pete, Joe, and Dave in the coveted DP spot.
This is the game start:
Ignore all the cards played around the board! I should note that for whatever reason my attempt to take the picture of the game start failed. All of us stepped to point out our start positions:
But I at least had the presence of mind to say, "Well why don't we just take the excess off and just take a picture of the map. We had been drinking. Although everyone but me--the non-driver--had slowed down by then.
Wheat was legitimately crappy. I was strong in brick and every 6 would be a road-building opportunity. And I hoped to build toward slightly less crappy wheat.
Pete quickly blocked Dave on the right, hemming Dave in. And Paul built around that sheep pasture with sheep port to bolster his wide expanse of sheep on the other coast. The cities were going up quickly. My innocent yet encouraging comment about how last month "my sheep strategy almost brought be glory" was taken way out of intent.
And then, the Dave that will live in infamy. Dave went to war, seemingly intent on just seeing Catan burn. Wave after wave of knights flying the "Black Cooler" banner attacked me and Paul. Paul and I suffered losses as did Dave in return, when first I and then Paul decided that the war should end.
What fools we were.
Anyway, Paul and Joe again vied for longest road. But Paul cut off Joe and linked up his enclaves to seal the deal. But again, Paul maxed out his settlements and--without rocks--needed to promote cities.
Joe built all his cities but with two well developed enclaves had little hope of longest road.
I staked out an enclave and had hopes of both harbormaster and longest road if Paul was lulled by his need to build cities.
But Dave, despite his feelings of doom, managed on a wave of 5 rolls to build up his cities and strike for the coast. And with his Davetroopers raping the sheep and killing the women, grabbed the largest army. As we've all done, Dave bought card after card hoping for that victory point to put him over the top. But no. Yet he finally built on the coast to get 11 points.
Far from being dead. Dave was undead. It was truly Shocktober.
Congratulations Dave!
Joe and Pete (with the harbor master) followed with 9 points each. Paul had the longest road and 7 points while I had 7 points the hard way.
This is the end game map:
We wrapped up before midnight. There was little interest in Game of Thrones. Alas, I think that tradition has lapsed. Maybe we can start Get Smart! They are shorter, at least. Or Xena?
Of note, there were no victory point cards drawn during the game.
Also, remind me to turn off the overhead lights when I snap the pictures of the board. I forget that my phone camera is much better in low light than past cameras.
And a meme, of course.
It was a fun game night. Thanks for coming by and playing! As always, feel free to offer your perspective or correct my hazy memory.
First, the beer exchange beers were a fine selection:
And the exchange, properly "Daved" for uniformity:
As is practice, we had chips, dip, assorted sweets, and non-alcoholic beverages available, too.
It is perhaps a good sign that the cat wasn't chased off of her cube, where she slept most of the evening.
We played the same game as last week, this time with three players. The maximum is four.
We discovered a few rules we did wrong the first time plus gained understanding of some rules that made no sense. For example, understanding that a contiguous group of hexes on your estate of the same color are a "city" made something else make sense.
Also, while there some grumblings over other player actions, the expletives were more rote like late series, "They killed Kenny. You bastards." It was hard to work up real annoyance.
The biggest thing we carried into this game from last week was an understanding of our "known unknowns." We spent more time looking up knowledge tiles and building types. Which are important for your overall strategy for getting points.
We got pretty good on the mechanics of the rounds and phases, but referring to rules added time. In theory the game can be played in 90 minutes. It took us about 4 hours.
Here's a snapshot of the game as it was being played, at the beginning of the fourth phase:
Again, the larger center mat is the administrative and resource mat.
Each player uses a smaller estate map to build their cities and hold resources--trade goods, workers, money (silverlings). And when you use your dice to carry out one of your minimum two actions you place them, in turn, on your dice holding area on the estate map. Additional moves are possible depending on your money or building, castle, or ship tiles placed on your estate.
There were some rumblings that perhaps I should have put the table center leaf in. Lesson learned.
We stayed over the 10:00 time limit to finish the game since we were so close. It can be sped up with knowledge of the special abilities of the knowledge and building types. So in that spirit, here are the online rules to print or put on your phone.
The game isn't really a replacement for regular game night unless everyone gets good at it. One game per night would be the limit. Although we'd have time for other shorter games or Game of Thrones.
And it is limited to four players. But it is fun and worth playing. It could be an alternative to Catan if just three or four show and there is consensus for it, in my opinion. Or it is a candidate for future weekly game nights or even off the books extra game nights if we do that. Hey, I'm a Gentlemen of Leisure with a (mostly) empty nest now.
Just don't tell Klaus.
It was nice to have a chance to actually play the game instead of it sitting on a shelf! Thanks for attending.
Next week I'm going to aim for Car Wars if it isn't a solitaire evening. That's a blast from the past for some of us.
Both were tasty, although I was a lightweight drinking just one of each.
This week we tried out The Castles of Burgundy. I had to punch out the counters. This was a game I bought in search of a regular game night candidate before Catan got entrenched. "Hail Klaus".
Each player has their own unique board for tracking and building their own resources. Plus a main board for tracking victory points, turn order, and resources that players compete for. There are castles (which you can place on dark green hexes), buildings (brown), farms (light green), knowledge (yellow), and ships (blue) available for placing on your map. Plus resources like trade goods, money, and workers. For the most part, you can take two actions per round and there are 25 rounds in 5 phases. Center board resources are reset every phase. And with more players there are more center board resources.
The game is for 2-4 players. It is a much more complex version of Catan in some ways, and might be considered a form of SimCity. You win through 25 rounds of play by getting the most points. There are different ways to get victory points including trade, buildings, expanding your kingdom's contiguous footprint, trade, agriculture, and probably other things we didn't notice. Note that the trade is not with other players.
The game was frustrating at first because the rules were kind of fragmented despite being brief. So it was slow going resolving questions. We both started worrying about the suitability of the game and whether it can really be played in 90 minutes. We started wishing we'd watched a tutorial video first.
But we resolved problems and before the first phase was over we were moving faster. And in the second phase it moved at a rapid clip. We ended the game at 10:04 after the second phase.
We used different strategies to get points and it seemed pretty balanced. Although you really need to know the rules to play effectively in using the different means of getting points most effectively. We did not have that detailed understanding. But we did have the mechanics down pretty well.
Although there aren't the opportunities to shout "You bastard!" that Catan so often provides.
All in all, this would be a fun game for a higher participant game night.
